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When the Germans attacked the Soviet Union on 22nd June 1941 [17], the whole of our group, Jews, Russians, Poles, over a dozen people, volunteered to go to the front. In the ‘raivoinkomat’ [recruiting board] we were told that they would be glad to send us to the front, but first a forest had to be cleared to make room for a military airport. We had already had a little practice at clearing forest, so we did clear it.
Then they sent us to the Finnish front. They were still afraid to give us weapons, because we weren’t Russians, we were escapees from Poland. My friends from the army, young Russian Jews, were treated the same. They explained to me that their parents had been repressed in 1936 – 37 [during the Great Terror] [18], so the Russian authorities didn’t trust them either. All of Karelia is forest and lakes. I and my friend Zanwel Brandes from Krasnik, who was killed there, were liaison officers. Towards the end of 1941 we had to take some orders to the battalion headquarters. It was a few kilometers away, so Brandes and I decided to walk there. As we were walking along the forest track, a ‘gazik’ [colloquial name for an all-terrain vehicle] overtook us, carrying our commanders. They called out to us, ‘Lads, we’ve got one free seat!’ We replied that we would stay together and go on foot to the battalion. When we reached the battalion headquarters just before evening, it transpired that the others had never made it. On the way some Finnish marksmen, and one woman, had shot the guys in the ‘gazik’ and taken the vehicle. By then our battalion headquarters were already surrounded. It was good that it was winter, because we had a local in the battalion who knew every inch of the land, and he led us out of there at night across the frozen Lake Segozero. We walked northeast and early in the morning reached Soviet-controlled territory.
Our battalion was dissolved due to losses and I was sent back to the place where I was mobilized, to Gorky. You made your own way back, usually riding on the buffers, because the wagons were taken by troops. I’m tough, so I made it to Gorky, but many men froze to death on those buffers. I arrived in Gorky sometime in January - February 1942.
Then they sent us to the Finnish front. They were still afraid to give us weapons, because we weren’t Russians, we were escapees from Poland. My friends from the army, young Russian Jews, were treated the same. They explained to me that their parents had been repressed in 1936 – 37 [during the Great Terror] [18], so the Russian authorities didn’t trust them either. All of Karelia is forest and lakes. I and my friend Zanwel Brandes from Krasnik, who was killed there, were liaison officers. Towards the end of 1941 we had to take some orders to the battalion headquarters. It was a few kilometers away, so Brandes and I decided to walk there. As we were walking along the forest track, a ‘gazik’ [colloquial name for an all-terrain vehicle] overtook us, carrying our commanders. They called out to us, ‘Lads, we’ve got one free seat!’ We replied that we would stay together and go on foot to the battalion. When we reached the battalion headquarters just before evening, it transpired that the others had never made it. On the way some Finnish marksmen, and one woman, had shot the guys in the ‘gazik’ and taken the vehicle. By then our battalion headquarters were already surrounded. It was good that it was winter, because we had a local in the battalion who knew every inch of the land, and he led us out of there at night across the frozen Lake Segozero. We walked northeast and early in the morning reached Soviet-controlled territory.
Our battalion was dissolved due to losses and I was sent back to the place where I was mobilized, to Gorky. You made your own way back, usually riding on the buffers, because the wagons were taken by troops. I’m tough, so I made it to Gorky, but many men froze to death on those buffers. I arrived in Gorky sometime in January - February 1942.
Period
Interview
Boleslaw Janowski
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